"…What?"
The duo-shaded net savior dropped his high quality business pen onto
the tan-marble floor with a gentle clatter. His eyes focused on those
of the brunette for a good long moment, standing up erect. He hadn't
noticed that his chair had hit the floor along with the pen.

"Uh—I
don't mean that literally!" Netto reassured, hands in the air.
"Laika's acting really like a zombie, I mean. Of course, he's
usually doing some kind of mapping, military stuff or boring
business, which already makes you like a nasty brainless ghoul… no
offense."

"I'm
sure." Enzan said haphazardly, then regaining his posture. "Now,
what do you want me to do about it?"

"Talk
to him!" Netto grabbed the older boy's arm tightly.

"What?
Wait, why me?" Enzan snapped, reclaiming his arm.

"You
can relate to him, that's why!"

"May
I ask, 'how'?"

"You both
are weighty, serious, drop-dead workaholics without the need to sleep
and stuff."

"I'm
flattered."

"Let's
go, darn it!" before Enzan could protest, Netto stole his arm
again, and dragged him with it.

"Hey!
Wait!" All the way to Laika's rental, the vice-president whined
and griped.

…

"I swear,
Hikari, if you don't let go of me right this instant I'll smack
you so silly you won't even know what—!"

"Laika, wake
up and open up this door!" Netto began to chant and wail, smacking
said door without a care in the world about how rickety and rugged
and old and ugly it looked.

"N-Netto,
you idiot; this is a public area! We'll get in trouble if we make
too much noise!" Enzan protested, face red with frustration. Netto
snickered, "What the—"

"Don't
be such a wet blanket, Enzan. He'll be out in a sec." Netto said
nonchalantly…

"…A
what?"

…And
continued mauling the door to no end.

"I'm
coming, I'm coming!" came a familiar muffled, irritated cry from
the other side. The door swung open ruthlessly, and out came an
aquatic-haired soldier in civilian wear. It was a change… it was…

Pleasant.

Although still
somewhat overly formal, his button-up white collared shirt hung
loosely, not tucked in. He wore… jeans? Yes! He was wearing a pair
of jeans, and… and there it was. Enzan felt his face heat up when
he'd seen what he saw.

Laika's fly
was open…

"L-Laika…good
evening." Enzan said slowly, trying to shake the feeling out of
him. Not once had he seen Laika out of uniform let alone with peeking
under-things. It was a nice change, it made him unexpectedly blush.

"I'm sure
it is." Laika said blandly, leaning against the doorframe, giving a
joyless smile. He looked very amused. Yes, the half-lidded eyes from
sleeping pills pointlessly drugging him to a hangover and the ruffled
hair wrote happy-go-lucky all over.

"Laika,
what took you so long to open that stupid door?" the brunette broke
in between Enzan's musings, which got the boy rather flustered.

"Netto—!"
Enzan snapped.

"I
was in another room; you could've used the doorbell. Searchman
would've notified me."

"Ha!
You should keep that door open! What if some mob of nutcases slammed
open your door in Sharro? You've got so many rooms in there; you'd
probably never even hear it!"

"…I
live in a dorm, that argument was pointless." Laika said bored.

"Well, what
if you were at home, not in a dorm, and a movement of people
were raiding your basement?" Netto said in such a way that made it
sound like he made an earth shattering statement. Enzan had an
eyebrow raised and frowned deeply.

"Are you
kidding me?" the Ijuuin slapped his forehead.

"I'm sure
the shrill yapping of my dog would notify me of a disturbance…
Now why are you here?" Netto stopped short of his mindless debate,
and smiled, pushing Enzan forward. The Ijuuin yelped, landing into
Laika, who blinked.

"He's
going to help you with your issues! Bye!" And with that, the Hikari
runs away…

"My… issues…" Laika
repeated, making Enzan laugh nervously. This was going to be quite
the night.

…

"Um… Laika…?" Enzan
whispered, crawling through the darkness. Once the bored soldier had
told the duo-haired boy to make himself at home, he immediately
retired to his room. Enzan, after ten minutes of contemplation,
decided not to accept that as that. Muddling through the mild mess in
the rental bedroom, he stumbled, and fell.

"Oh, sh—!" his curse was
cut short as he felt his arms being grasped tightly. He caught his
breath as he grew stiff, waiting for the darkness to let him adapt.
The boy gasped as his sight cleared, and was able to glimpse a pair
of icy-blue eyes.

"…care to get off me now?"
Enzan blinked, realizing that Laika had been supporting his weight
for a while. He immediately found the real ground again, gaining a
decent posture.

"Um… hey…" He said
slowly.

"Hi." Laika was monotone.
Enzan frowned, pouting slightly.

"Don't give me that attitude
of yours." The Ijuuin said as coolly as possible, seating himself
beside the vulnerable soldier. Laika scoffed, and put his hands
behind his head, commencing operation Stare Blankly Towards the
Ceiling.

"…So how're you…" The
younger boy started the conversation, grabbing a seat at the foot of
the bed. There was a silence, and then another. Realizing that the
young soldier would never give him an answer, Enzan took in a deep
breath and held it.

Something must've happened.
Laika isn't one to just… die like this…it's just not right…

He bit his lip, and exhaled,
restarting a steady breath. He closed his eyes, placed his elbows on
his knees, and head in his hands.

"…Ever had one of those blank
minded moments where your brain has no passion to think but none to
sleep?" Enzan blinked at the voluntary decision to speak. He
maintained his seating, and scoffed. "Or… times when you're
listless… whatever…" the Ijuuin smiled rudely to himself.

"Nope, because unlike you, I
have a hobby." Laika flinched at the retort, and then, he too,
grinned in return.

"And that would be?"

"It would be Solitaire." His
voice was cold and blunt.

"Solitaire, is it?"

"Yup; solitaire is my light in
the hazy fog."

"…is it now…"

"I've spent unimaginable
hours playing an enormous number of games by now. If I didn't
have work, this would be one of the things that I'd do, next to Net
Battling." Laika rolled his eyes.

"Solitaire; how stupid is
that…"

"It's stupid enough to get me
through a day."

"Touché."

"You know it."

Laika sighed heavily, and let a
silence draw on for a moment. "And I can imagine that some of those
hours are equivalent to my blank minded moments lacking…
brain-passion and surplus insomnia?"

"So solitaire is my insomnia…
That should be made into a song." Enzan commented, making Laika
scoff and sneer. Enzan laughed at himself. The conversation then
drowned into a deep silence for another set of moments.

"A long day of work; nothing
but work, but apparently, my secretary's starting to use a new
brand of coffee."

"Fun…"

"I lack quality time with
friends." The Ijuuin chuckled.

"Huh…"

Cut and paste another silence
here…

"…So how about you?" Enzan
twitched, realizing he'd have to wait out another gruelling moment
of solid silence.

"…it was…" Enzan perked
up, "…Listless." And then perked down.

"…You've completely dropped
out of this conversation haven't you?"

"I'm in a bit of a dead zone
here, not that I'm drooling like a zombie."

"Really, now; because it
certainly seems like it, from the way you're responding and
all—oops, I mean lack of response." Enzan said completely
dull. This was getting ridiculous.

"Hardeehar… My responses are
not nigh, they are simply brief."

"You asked me what I did today
and didn't even bother making one."

"Oh, well my apologies, oh
great one."

"… You need a vacation…"
Enzan sat up, "Come with me to Betonam, I have a business trip
there next week, we can go early. You told me you wanted to go there
a few—"

"I lost interest in Betonam
quite some time ago." Enzan's eyes widened, raising an eyebrow,
he said the only thing he could think of…

"Huh?"

"I'm at a lack of pocket
change anyway." Laika added sullen.

"… You disappoint me in many
ways… I'm starting to think you were replaced by a disappointing
alien."

"Is it for my lack of interest
in Betonam, my listless depression and my poverty?"

"You… lack interest in
a country? That's a really stupid point of view."

"It's been cut out of a
passion."

"What? Shut up. I don't
understand you; I think your lack of sleep is stupidifying
you. Go and sleep." Enzan, when confused the point where he finds
logic is lost, will silence things; that was what Laika suspected.

"But I lost that interest in
Betonam long before my soul got sucked out of me." He expanded.

"I'll sleep when I'm
sleepy." The soldier responded, shifting on the mat.

"And you're not?"

"No, no I am not."

"Then why are there so many
blanks? I doubt you aren't tired. Oh forget it, keep staring and
drooling until you finally realize that your brain has been shut
off." Enzan stood up with a mumble. About to leave, he felt a tug
at the back of his shirt. He turned around, somewhat hopeful.

"… I'm not staring and
drooling, hardly brain-dead yet." Once again disappointed, he
reclaimed his rightful place on the carpet.

"I'm surprised at your lack
of snappy responses; I was expecting them back when I called you
irritating."

"Snappy?"

"You know, that's how you
usually respond. A better word would be a—"

"I get the point."

"I can assume that sleepiness
has degraded you into a docile lamb." Laika rolled his eyes.

"I can assure you that my mind
is working at full capacity." Laika mumbled, shifting at his bed
again.

"Ha! Rethink that if you
please."

"Ugh… I'm just having a
momentary lapse of… attitude adjustment…?"

"…and this is full capacity?"

"There's no other way to put
it," Laika shrugged.

"Even I'd say I'm not
working at full capacity, otherwise we wouldn't be having this
pointless conversation, and I never would've given into that dumb
Netto." Enzan returned the shrug, "One only uses ten percent of
their brain anyway."

"Fine—I'm working with all
ten percent I've got…. Makes you wonder what the rest is for…"

"Uh… It's the muscle
control and all that involuntary stuff."

"…ha…"

"Moron."

"Shut up..."

Enzan blinked, and then smiled
silently to himself.

He had an idea.

"…You're a dumbass caught
in the headlights, aren't you…?" Enzan chuckled. Laika lifted
his upper body up with his arms and gave a good glare at the Ijuuin.

"Excuse me?"

Enzan spun around to sneer Laika
in the face. "You heard me, you brainless zombie." The soldier
crept closer to the Ijuuin and snarled at him. "You mind numbing,
boring little twit."

"You take that back!" His
voice rose, and Enzan shrugged, his grin less than faltering. He took
a seat next to Laika on the bed, legs crossed, hand patting the other
boy's back obnoxiously as if to say 'its okay if you're
boring!'

"What if I don't?" He
tilted his head to the side. "Are you going to hit me? Oh wait,
you're too dead to do that. I don't think its
listlessness, I think its apathy. You're nothing but a lazy bum,
full of excuses, aren't you?"

"No I'm not!" Said Laika,
flustered, he sat up on his bed, fists clenched over the bed sheets,
and he leaned forward and stared Enzan straight in the face.
Apparently, it was one of the intimidating tactics he learned…

It didn't work.

"Lazy, lifeless zombie without
a decent excuse as to why. Where'd your brain go? Did you sell it
for fifty cents? Wait; do you even know how much fifty cents is
anymore?"

Oh hell, no.

"You shut up right now, or I'll
shove that snappy tongue of yours so far down your throat you'll be
feeling it in your p—" Before he could finish his audacious
retort, said tongue was shoved so far down his throat, he was
cut off completely. Before he could take in what had just happened, a
warm sensation ran through his body (mostly his midsection), as his
arms involuntarily wrapped around the other boy's, hitting the
pillow head first.

Finally taking in everything, his
tongue played with the other's, in warmth that made his face heat
up. He flinched as he felt cold hands touch his collarbone, stroking
ghostly, making him shudder.

More teasing was made, until
neither could breathe, and Enzan pulled away, landing next to the
older Net Saver. Both drew in deep breaths for a time, until Laika
finally spoke.

"W-wow… that was…"

"…Sh…Shut up…" Enzan
retorted, face red and flustered, turning his face in the other
direction. "…Want me to leave?" He sat up, but was instantly
pulled down onto the other boy again. The Ijuuin made his face blank,
while staring coldly at Laika, who stared all the same.

Not another silence…

"Look…" Enzan started
slowly, "I didn't mean to do it. I just… didn't know what
more to do. I wanted to snap you out of your little… phase… and I
didn't mean to do that."

"You shoved your tongue down my
trachea."

"… Shut up. Can I go now?"
Before he could move an inch, he froze, feeling heat slide across his
face; he felt himself press against the other boy, whom unexpectedly
pulled him in again. This time, not into him, but into the bed.

Laika was on top of him.

"Laika, get off of me!"
Enzan's face was flustered, and he struggled. "You proved your
point, okay? I'm sorry! I'll never do that again!" He felt the
weight retreat, and he sat up, sighing in relief. "…Uh…
S-sorry, okay?" He said. Both took in a breath, letting it out at
the same time. "Laika…" Enzan started. "I…"

Laika tilted his head up, gazing
into the dark shadows in his room. "…I like you too." He turned
his head to look at the younger Net saver and smiled. A stroke of red
tinted the Ijuuin's cheeks as he returned the gesture. Their eyes
returned to each other's respective darkness', and a comfortable
silence drew long and hard.

"…So…" Enzan muttered.

"…" With not response,
Enzan looked at Laika and smiled deviously.

"You still dead—?"

"Shut up!"

- Owari -

This is very relative to a
conversation with a friend of mine. I was the dead one—uh… it was
very accurate up to the point where tongues are involved. Otherwise
that'd be a little weird… Plus we were chatting on the net.

I haven't updated my other fan
stories in a while. I hit a writer's block for them. They're not
on hiatus, but my muse is on other things right now. Don't need to
worry about the block, my focus has just deviated. I promise you;
I'll update.

Review please!

The author would like to thank you for your continued support. Your review has been posted.